Travel Insurance - Can I cancell

paulhunt

Hi Everyone

This is my first time posting on here so be gentle.

My mum who is 75 went and booked her tickets to go holiday to USA to see her sister,her tickets were £600 and she paid another £600 for insurance (i rang freedom as a gauge and their quote was £443). The insurance seems high and I know they will be selling for a company and receiving a fee. Any help you could give me would be much appreciated as I have 2 questions.

1 - would she be able to cancel the insurance which is due to start tomorrow?

2 - where is the best place to buy insurance for a 75 year old lady going away for 31 days?

Many thanks in advance.

Paul

sheramber

What does her policy say about cancelling?

Did she buy it online or did she buy it elsewhere?

paulhunt

Hi Sheramber

She purchased it in their shop.

I found this on their website:

"Unless your trip has started, you have the right to cancel your policy within 14 days from the date of issue or receipt of your policy documents, whichever is later. We will refund you any premium you have paid and we will recover from you any payments we have made. No other right to cancel exists under this policy."

Thanks

Paul

Quentin

Is the insurance policy due to start tomorrow or does she start her trip tomorrow?


The condition you quote refers to 14 days cooling off to cancel starting from when the docs were received.


is she still in that 14 day window?

ThinkingOutLoud_2

So when did she buy / get the policy documents. If that was less than 15 days ago. You can cancel without reason - it is the cooling off period as you note above.

ThinkingOutLoud_2

I should add that if she is actually travelling tomorrow. You need to act before that!

Her cancellation cover should have begun when the policy was bought. But that doesn't matter so long as you are within cooling off and she doesn't need to claim

paulhunt

Thanks everyone, she bought it last Wednesday and isn't travelling until May 17th so is well within the 14 days. I just feel she has been taken advantage of due to the high price of the insurance. She is staying with her sister during the stay and has a direct flight. I understand there are things that can go wrong but she's nearly paying more for insurance than a return flight to America.

ThinkingOutLoud_2

paulhunt wrote: »

Thanks everyone, she bought it last Wednesday and isn't travelling until May 17th so is well within the 14 days. I just feel she has been taken advantage of due to the high price of the insurance. She is staying with her sister during the stay and has a direct flight. I understand there are things that can go wrong but she's nearly paying more for insurance than a return flight to America.

Understood. Good you have time.

But the reason for the prices are so high is because the cost of medical care is so high in the USA (staying with a relative only helps reduce risk if say she needed a long recuperation after hospital.)

The cost of one single day in ICU is beyond belief (Google it). The cost to ship someone back to the UK in an air ambulance or adapted "airbus" is also eye watering.

But, different insurers have differing appetites and pricing strategies just as you see with say car insurance. When the cost will be high, the difference between quotes is often sizeable ££.£ So you I am afraid have to do some legwork to find the best deal...